Rape as an act of Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 -1995

Rape as an act of Genocide P a g e | 1

RAPE AS AN ACT OF GENOCIDE IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

FROM 1992 - 1995

Aisa Purak

Niagara University


Course ID: IDS500 - Professor, Dr. Mustafa Gökçek

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to deal with the causes and consequences

of rape as one of the types of extreme violence in the war

against Bosnia and Herzegovina and its society by the governments

of Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia, which are used in the process

of its militaristic and paramilitary structure. This study will

also address rape as an integral part of genocidal acts used in

other parts of the world, and the response of the international

community on rape as an act of genocide both globally and in

Bosnia. Even though rape has long been acknowledged as an

atrocity, rape did not become a war crime until the late 1990s.

This paper looks at why and how the role of rape in the war in

Bosnia affected the development of international law regarding

women. Using the accessible documents, this research will point

to the fact that the history of rape as an act of genocide is as


old as the history of warfare, and that many rapes remained

unpunished. This paper argues that a fundamental change in

understanding of the role of rape in war- from consequence of war

to method of war – led to the development of rape as a war crime.

This claim is explored through case studies of the Bosnian (1992-

1995) war in the former Yugoslavia. The general aim of this paper

is also to contribute recording and writing calamities, rape,

sexual abuse and murder of Muslim Bosnia Women in the period from

the 1992 until 1995.

Keywords: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia,

genocide, rape, International community, Muslim Bosnia Women.

RAPE AS AN ACT OF GENOCIDE IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA FROM 1992 - 1995


The purpose of this paper is to point to the undeniable fact

that in an attempt to implement the project of Greater Serbia or

Greater Croatia at the expense of Bosnia and Herzegovina

territory. Neighboring countries Serbia and Croatia also used the

act of rape in their process of eliminating Bosniaks and Bosnian

society. Until the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the

international community has failed to effectively identify and

recognize the problem of rape of women as one of the acts of

genocide that is used during the war as a method of achieving its

war goals and punishing the men of their counterparties.

This paper also argues that rape in wartime has been the

common experience of women from all over the world since the

first wars broke out. It has occurred in all civilizations, but

different civilizations had different approaches and sanctions

concerning this crime. Additionally, this paper argues that

genocide, as well as the element of rape in genocide, does not

just emerge spontaneously, but is a manifestation of specific

government policies with the intention of achieving certain

political goals. The genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina is no


exception to this rule. This paper explores the way in which

genocide is in fact a planned crime on the state level and

wouldn’t be possible without strong planned military power behind

it. Particularly, in the war against Bosnia and Herzegovina and

its society, the state of Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia, and

their militaristic and paramilitary structures, carried out the

genocide against Bosniaks throughout history. There have been ten

recorded genocides directed primarily against the Bosnian Muslims

the worst genocide being the most recent, which was a tool for

the realization of the national project of Greater Serbia and

Greater Croatia.

RAPE, WOMEN AND WARAngela Robinson, London –based journalist specializing in

human rights issues once stated, “If human rights are to be

universally respected and protected, they must apply to the lives

of over half the human race-women”(1993, p. 27). The rape of


women has been utilized as a terror tactic in wars since the

beginning of armed conflicts and, according to Robinson, there

are three main stages. First, rape is a routine and expected

reward to the victors. Secondly, rape occurs due to lack of

military discipline. Finally, rape occurs as a military technique

to demoralize the opposition. Through these horrific actions,

women experience the loss of home and the loss of land, which is

synonymous with the loss of identity. This is known as ethnic

cleansing (2002, p. 32).

According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for

Refugees (UNHCR), violence against women, especially rape, has

added its own brand of shame to recent wars. From conflicts in

Bosnia and Herzegovina to Peru to Rwanda, girls and women have

been singled out for rape, imprisonment, torture and execution.

Rape, identified by psychologists as the most intrusive of

traumatic events, has been documented in many armed conflicts

including those in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cyprus, Haiti, Liberia,

Somalia and Uganda (Amnesty International, 2010).


The State of the World's Children in 1996 report notes that

the disintegration of families in times of war leaves women and

girls especially vulnerable to violence. Nearly 80% of the 53

million people uprooted by wars today are women and children.

When fathers, husbands, brothers and sons are drawn away to

fight, they leave women, the very young, and the elderly to fend

for themselves. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Myanmar, and Somalia,

refugee families frequently cite rape or the fear of rape as a

key factor in their decisions to seek refuge.

Like all rape, genocidal rape is particular as well as

part of the generic, and its

particularity matters. This is ethnic rape as an

official policy of war in a genocidal

campaign for political control. That means not only a

policy of the pleasure of

male power unleashed, which happens all the time in so-

called peace; not only a


policy to defile, torture, humiliate, degrade, and

demoralize the other side, which

happens all the time in war; and not only a policy of

men posturing to gain

advantage and ground over other men. It is specifically

rape under orders. This is not

rape out of control. It is rape under control. It is

also rape unto death, rape as

massacre, rape to kill and to make the victims wish they

were dead. It is rape as

an instrument of forced exile, rape to make you leave

your home and never want

to go back. It is rape to be seen and heard and watched

and told to others; rape as

spectacle. It is rape to drive a wedge through a

community, to shatter a society, to

destroy a people. It is rape as genocide (MacKinnon,

1994, p. 11-12).


Rape is used to humiliate husbands, brothers, fathers, and

sons by demonstrating their apparent inability to protect their

women. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, this is especially heinous

because the honor and shame complex, characterized by the

chastity of females, is fundamental not only to the family, but

also the honor of the community. The rape of women during armed

conflicts is a tactic of war and a threat to international

security because its psychological and physical abuse of women

destroys the entire community. This paper will examine a broader

socio cultural phenomenon that is taking place in Bosnia-

Herzegovina.

HISTORY OF RAPE

According to Jonathan Gottschall’s definition, mass rape is

defined as “distinct patterns of rape by soldiers at rates that

are much increased over rates of rape that prevail in peacetime

(2004, p. 129). The terms, mass rape, wartime rape and mass

wartime rape have the same meaning and are used interchangeably.

The ancient Greeks and Romans wholly accepted rape as a

common practice in warfare and captive women came to expect this


as a consequence of defeat. Documentation from the Wars of

Religion in France outlines the rape and torture of Huguenot

women. Records also detail rapes in the Scottish Highlands in

1746 and during World War I where the German military raped

Belgian and French women. It is believed that this was not a

tactic of war, but it was widespread and systematic (Brownmiller,

1975, p.74).

History of rape as an act of genocide is as old as the

history of warfare. The history of genocide, viewed from a world

- historical context, reveals the astounding fact that the

history of humans, among other things, is based primarily on

wars, genocide, persecution, hunger and other forms of suffering,

and that it is simply a cemetery of missing nations and cultures.

Indeed, human history has also the other brighter side, the side

of peace, work, prosperity, but certainly unfinished and never

lasting. Another important fact reveals to us a historical

description of wars and genocide. It is a fact that in all wars

and genocidal processes, the state and its military power play a

key part. Almost until the end of the 20th century, rape in war


had rarely been documented and therefore remained invisible and

unpunished. In her book, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape, (1975),

Suzana Braunmiler, points out that the victim is not guilty of

rape but rather its perpetrator. Throughout her book, Susanna

Braunmiler managed to change somewhat passive views and attitudes

towards rape and promoted the idea that rape is not the fault of

the victim, but a crime committed against the victim, which in

most cases means, against women. She points out that genocide and

rape have always been organized at the highest state level. This

position is also held by Diana Russell (1990) and as an example

she mentions the infamous “witch hunt" prevalence during the Dark

Ages, which was organized at the state level, what was also

probably the largest state organized genocide in history. The

policy of killing women just because they are women is femicide

and according to the American feminist Diana Russell (1990) in

the state organized genocide, killing nine million women and

according to her that “it was the political context of the

murdering women because they are women.”

Furthermore, Braunmiler (1975) states that first attempts at


codifying the crime of rape in war were determined, first as a

breach of military discipline. It wasn't addressed because of the

basic rights of women, but rather because of the questionable

conduct of the soldiers. It was then questioned as a matter of

"honor" as the rape of women in war is not viewed as a crime

against a woman, but as a crime against the man who raped the

woman belongs. Rape is a back door entered into history as a

crime of a man over the property of another man. This patriarchal

and traditional approach to the crime of rape in war, has been

brought into question in the second half of the twentieth

century, with the leadership of the feminist movement,

particularly by the guidance of Susanna Braunmiler and her book

, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape, (1975 ) when she named rape as

a war crime and called for its punishment under International

law. Braunmiler should be credited for stirring the issue of rape

in wartime, but the Bosnian women and their lawyers made

historical segue when, in June 2008, the UN Security Council

passed Resolution 1820 which condemned rape as a “tactic of war

and threat to international security,” enabling the Security


Council to take action against widespread rape (“Rape: Weapon of

War”, Intentional Criminal Court”), (Fitzgerald, 2010).

Human Rights Watch summarizes the history as follows: During

the Second World War, some 200,000 Korean women were forcibly

held in sexual slavery to the Japanese army. During the armed

conflict in Bangladesh in1971, it is estimated that 200,000

civilian women and girls were victims of rape committed by

Pakistani soldiers. Mass rape of women has been used since the

beginning of the conflict in the Former Yugoslavia. Throughout

the Somali conflict beginning in 1991, rival ethnic factions have

used rape against rival ethnic factions. In the year 1992 alone,

882 women were reportedly gang-raped by Indian security forces in

Jammu and Kashmir. In Peru, 1982, the rape of women by security

forces was a common practice in the ongoing armed conflict

between the Communist Party of Peru, the Shining Path, and

government counterinsurgency forces. In Myanmar, 1992, government

troops raped women in a Rohingya Muslim village after the men had

been inducted into forced labor. Under the former Haitian

military regime of Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras, rape was used as a tool


of political repression against female activists or female

relatives of opposition members (Russell-Brown, 2003).

According to the UN Action Against Sexual Violence in

Conflict statistics, as many as 50,000 women were raped in the

Rwanda Genocide, 64,000 in the Sierra Leone conflict, 40,000 in

the Bosnia and Herzegovina War, 4,500 in a single province in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo in merely six months, and

hundreds of women are raped every single day in the Darfur region

of Sudan. These numbers are only augmented by other small

conflicts where rape has been used as a war tactic, such as the

Bangladesh Army’s rape of Jumma minority women in the 1970s and

80s as well as the use of rape by the Guatemala Army and rebel

groups in their 36 year Civil War. As documented by Guatemala’s

Historical Clarification Commission, some instances of rape

during this conflict were a result of the Guatemalan army forcing

civilian men, at gunpoint, to rape women with whom they had

previous social connection, such as their daughters or neighbors

(AASA Science, 2010).


RAPE AS A WEAPON OF WAR

Susan Brownmiller 1was the first historian to attempt an

overview of rape in war with documentation and theory.

Brownmiller's thesis is that "War provides men with the perfect

psychological backdrop to give vent to their contempt for women.

The maleness of the military—the brute power of weaponry

exclusive to their hands, the spiritual bonding of men at arms,

the manly discipline of orders given and orders obeyed, the

simple logic of the hierarchical command—confirms for men what

1 Susan Brownmiller was the first historian to attempt an overview of rape in war

with documentation and theory (Brownmiller. Susan, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape,

Simon & Schuster, 1975.) Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape is a 1975 book by Susan

Brownmiller. The book, which is widely credited with changing public outlooks and

attitudes about rape, promoted the concept that rape was not the victim's fault.

Brownmiller described rape as "a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep

all women in a state of fear." In short, Brownmiller asserts that "rape is a crime not

of lust, but of violence and power." (retrieved from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_Our_Will)


they long suspect—that women are peripheral to the world that

counts." She writes that rape accompanies territorial advance by

the winning side in land conflicts as one of the spoils of war,

and that "Men who rape are ordinary Joes, made unordinary by

entry into the most exclusive male-only club in the world"(1975,

p. 31–139).

The victims of war rape are usually "civilians", a category

first recognized in the 19th century (Askin, 1997, p. 26-27).

Although war rape of women is documented throughout history, laws

protecting civilians in armed conflicts have tended not to

recognize sexual assault on women. Even when laws of war have

recognized and forbidden sexual assault, few prosecutions have

been brought. According to Kelly Dawn Askin, the laws of war

perpetuated the attitude that sexual assaults against women are

less significant crimes, not worthy of prosecution (1997, p.

13).War rape has until recently been a hidden element of war,

which according to Human Rights Watch 2is linked to the largely

2 Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts

research and advocacy on human rights. HRW headquarters are in New York City with offices in

Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advocacy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beirut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights


gender-specific character of war rape – abuse committed by men

against women. This gender-specific character has contributed to

war rape being "narrowly portrayed as sexual or personal in

nature, a portrayal that depoliticizes sexual abuse in conflict

and results in its being ignored as a war crime." (Thomas &

Reagan, 1994).

"To the victor go the spoils" has been a war cry for

centuries, and women classed as part of the spoils of war (Askin,

1997, p. 10-21). Furthermore, war rape has been downplayed as an

unfortunate but inevitable side effect of sending men to war.

(Thomas & Reagan, 1994). Also, war rape has in the past been

regarded as tangible reward to soldiers (which were only paid

irregularly), and as a soldier's proof of masculinity and

success. (Askin,1997, pg. 27). In reference to war rape in

ancient times, Harold Washington argues that warfare itself is

imagined as rape, and that the cities attacked are its victims.

He argues that war rape occurs in the context of stereotypes Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto, and Washington D.C. (retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Watch)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris


about women and men, which are part of the basic belief that

violent power belongs to men, and that women are its victims

(Levison, 2004, p. 20).

According to a European Community fact-finding team,

systematic rape is often used as a weapon of war in 'ethnic

cleansing'. As a part of “ethnic cleansing” by Serbs in their

genocidal war with Bosnia, in 1992 began the massive raping of

women in Bosnia. Amnesty International have confirmed the massive

raping of Muslim women. More than 20,000 Muslim girls and women

have been raped in Bosnia since fighting began in April 1992.

Teenage girls have been a particular target in Bosnia and

Herzegovina and Croatia, according to The State of the World's

Children 1996 report. The report also says that impregnated girls

have been forced to bear 'the enemy's' child ( Barry, 1995, p.

124). Bosnia's 1992-95 war was the bloodiest in the series of

armed conflicts that erupted when the Yugoslav federation fell

apart and its republics began declaring independence. It took

more than 100,000 lives and devastated the region. According to


the UN, between 20,000 to 50,000 Bosnian women were raped by

Serbs— many in special rape camps.

The event of a rape as an act of genocide against Bosniaks

and Bosnian-Herzegovinian society points to the vital need of an

all inclusive explanation of all its aspects. First of all, it is

necessary to comprehensively elucidate the socio-politic causes

of the genocide, and to point to the multitude of perpetrators of

genocidal acts, which certainly includes the State, as a subject

of genocide (Braunmiler, 1975).

EFFECT OF RAPE ON WOMEN’S BODY AND MIND

Sexual violation of women erodes the fabric of a community in

a way that few weapons can. Rape's damage can be devastating

because of the strong communal reaction to the violation and pain

stamped on entire families. The harm inflicted in such cases on a

woman by a rapist is an attack on her family and culture, as in

many societies women are viewed as repositories of a community's

cultural and spiritual values. In addition to rape, girls and

women are also subject to forced prostitution and trafficking


during times of war, sometimes with the complicity of governments

and military authorities. During World War II, women were

abducted, imprisoned and forced to satisfy the sexual needs of

occupying forces, and many Asian women were also involved in

prostitution during the Viet Nam war. The trend continues in

today's conflicts. (Barry, 1995).

According The State of the World's Children reports 1996, UNHCR has had

to organize security patrols, fence camps with thorn bushes and

relocate the most vulnerable women to safer areas. Some rape

victims who were ostracized were moved to other camps or given

priority for resettlement abroad. UNHCR has formal guidelines for

preventing and responding to sexual violence in the camps, and it

trains field workers to be more sensitive to victims' needs.

Refugee women are encouraged to form committees and become

involved in camp administration to make them less vulnerable to

men who would steal their supplies or force them to provide sex

in return for provisions. The high risk of infection with

sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV/AIDS,

accompanies all sexual violence against women and girls. The


movement of refugees and marauding military units and the

breakdown of health services and public education worsens the

impact of diseases and chances for treatment. For example, one

study has suggested that the exchange of sex for protection

during the civil war in Uganda in the 1980s was a contributing

factor to the country's high rate of AIDS.

The State of the World's Children reports 1996 further states that war and

civil unrest also contribute to violence in the home, according

to recent studies. Death, upheaval and poverty increase tensions

within the family and the likelihood of violence against girls

and women. Men who feel that they have lost the ability to

protect their women may compensate by exercising violent control

over them at home. UNHCR, the United Nations Population Fund

(UNFPA) and UNICEF are promoting reproductive health services for

refugees to counter high birth rates, maternal mortality, STDs

and HIV/AIDS. UNICEF provides support for women affected by armed

conflict in countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi,

Croatia, Georgia, Liberia, Rwanda, Somalia and the Sudan.


Clearly, rape as a war tactic is far more than just an

assault to an intimate and vulnerable aspect of an individual’s

dignity. It is a violent attempt to rip apart the social fabric

of communities. Catherine MacKinnon (1994), famous feminist and

lawyer, in her book Are Women Human? observed that xenophobia or

racial intolerance and misogyny, hatred of women merge together

when comes to rape. Otherwise, how to explain that all human

rights violations are condemnable, some violations, such as

silencing of political dissidents, poor access to clean water, or

unequal access to education, primarily affect one aspect of a

victim’s life, and individual are generally able to maintain

vital social relationships throughout their suffering. Rape

however is multifaceted. It effects include:

Physical Consequences: STDs, impregnation, urinary tract

infections, vaginal tearing and bleeding, chronic pain,

broken bones, infections, fistulas, and heath ( Milillo,

2006).

Psychological Consequences: self-blame, post-traumatic

stress disorder (including relieving the rape in dreams


or flashbacks), depression, internalized misogynist

views, fear (resulting in living a life of silence), and

suicide (Milillo, 2006).

Family Consequences: shame (in severe cases, resulting in

killing the rape victim to alleviate the family’s shame),

husband’s abandonment of victimized wives, and unwanted

children conceived by rapist ( Milillo, 2006).

Community Consequences: disruption of traditional

cultural practices, erosion of communal identity and

trust, and destroying community’s altogether (Milillo,

2006).

As a human rights norm, rape as a war tactics is still in a

“birth stage” and deserves prioritized attention. The fact that

UN Security Council approved a resolution in 2008 is very

encouraging in which it condemned rape as a weapon of war and

threat to the international security and there has been few

concrete steps already taken to make this important resolution

translate into reality (United Nations Human Rights).

Nevertheless, universal condemnation of rape as a war tactic is


far from becoming an internalized reality. In fact, in order to

tackle this top-priority human right issue, two primary plans of

action must be employed. First, the international community needs

to provide more direct aid to address the immediate needs of

victims of rape. Second, and more important toward a long-term

solution, rape as a war tactic must be addressed at the deeper

level by making legislative changes to international law,

stopping impunity for perpetrators, and changing cultural

attitudes which perpetuate rape.

GENOCIDAL RAPE

Samuel Totten, a genocide scholar and a Professor of the

University at Arkansas, describes Genocidal Rape as a term used to

describe the actions of a group who have carried out acts of mass

rape during wartime against their perceived enemy as part of a

genocidal campaign. As an example of Genocidal Rape he is listing

the Bosnian genocide and the Rwandan genocide. He argues that the

mass rapes that had been an integral part of those conflicts

brought the concept of genocidal rape to international

prominence. While war rape has been a recurrent feature in

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_rape

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_genocide

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide


conflicts throughout history, it has usually been looked upon as

a by-product of conflict, and not an integral part of military

policy (2007, p. 159–160.)

According to Roger W. Smith, one of the main objectives of

genocidal rape is forced pregnancy; however those unable to bear

children are also subject to sexual assault. Victim’s ages can

range from children to women in their eighties. During the

Armenian Genocide the mass rapes of young girls was well

documented. They would be assaulted in their homes before forced

relocation, or on the forced marches into the Syrian desert. An

eyewitness testified, "It was a very common thing for them to

rape our girls in our presence. Very often they violated eight or

ten year old girls, and as a consequence many would be unable to

walk, and were shot." Another testified that every girl in her

village aged over twelve, and some who were younger had been

raped ( 2013, pg. 94). So far the Instances of mass rape during

wartime which have been defined as genocidal rape were the mass

rapes during the Bangladesh liberation war, the rapes during the

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_during_the_Armenian_Genocide

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocidal_rape#CITEREFTotten2007


Bosnian Genocide, and the rapes during the Rwandan Genocide

(Sajjad, 2012, p. 225).

Bosnia-Herzegovina War from 1992-1995

The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 1992 till 1995 was

marked by the systematic use of rape and sexual violence3. While

rape in war is by no means a new phenomenon, the international

and domestic attention received by this particular aspect of the

Bosnian war was extraordinary. This led to a degree of openness

about a phenomenon that has historically been hidden. This led to

3 At the end of 1992, the Bosnian government released a figure stating that the number of women who had been raped was about 14,000 (Olujic, 1998, pg 40). Later the same year (in

December), the European Community set the number of women of Muslim ethnicity who had been raped

by Bosnian Serb soldiers at around 20,000 (Drakulic, 1993 pg. 270). The Bosnian Ministry of the

Interior set the number at around 50,000 (Olujic, 1998, pg). It is stated that the European Union

(EU) Commission estimated the number of victims at 50,000. At a conference entitled ‘Violation of

the Human Rights of Women in Bosnia and Herzegovina During the War 1992–1995’, held in Sarajevo

on 10–11 March 1999, the President of the Organizational Committee, Mirsad Tokaca, stated that

the Commission for Gathering Facts on War Crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina set the number of

raped women at 20,000 (Tokaca, 1999). Drakulic (1993) reports that the Sarajevo State Commission

for Investigation of War Crimes estimates that the number up until October 1992 was 50,000, and

she adds that these numbers are highly controversial. Meznaric (1994: 92) writes that the report

of the Coordinative Group of Women’s Organizations of Bosnia and

Herzegovina estimates that between 20,000 and 50,000 women were raped.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocidal_rape#CITEREFSajjad2012


a degree of openness about a phenomenon that has historically

been hidden and ridden with shame. Because it is openly

recognized that systematic use of rape took place in Bosnia, and

because numerous victims of these crimes are willing to talk

about their ordeals, the Bosnian conflict thus opened up a new

possibility for research on this particular form of violence. It

is commonly believed that, when utilized in ethnic conflicts, as

in the Bosnian case, sexual violence is employed as a weapon of

demoralization against entire societies (Coneth-Morgan, 2004, pg

22).The demoralization is characterized by a violent invasion of

the interior of the victim’s body, which thereby Constitutes an

attack upon the intimate self and dignity of the individual human

being (Goldstein, 2001, 362–3). How this attack impacts on its

victims and their relationships is however, unanswered.

In his book, Genocide in Bosnia: The Policy of "Ethnic

Cleansing, by Norman Cigar, gives an excellent analysis of the

political developments, primarily in Serbia, which eventually

made possible the atrocities committed in Bosnia. Cigar

unambiguously takes the view that genocide was in fact committed


in Bosnia, first and primarily by the Serbian forces and later by

the Croatians, and he backs up this argument with a great deal of

meticulous research.

Cigar’s describes in detail the genocide perpetrated in

Bosnia against non-Serbs. His book reveals the gruesome

atrocities that were committed in Bosnia during the Bosnian war.

Many people assume that it was a civil war, when in fact it was

genocide. It has been corroborated that Serbians started the war

in an attempt to annihilate non-Serbs and create a "Great

Serbia", consisting of Serbians only. For all Muslim Bosnian, his

work is very important since it clearly support the following

facts: of the 300.000 victims in Bosnia- 85% were Muslims; 90% of

all war crimes in Bosnia were committed by Serbianss (Radovan

Karadzic, Ratko Mladic, Arkan and numerous others). On that

account, we can conclude that Serbians are the perpetrators and

Muslims are the victims (2000).

Beverly Allen, in his book, Rape Warfare: The Hidden Genocide in

Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia argues that was the systematic rape of

Muslim and Croat women as part of the "ethnic cleansing" campaign


in the former Yugoslavia .The military policy of rape for the

purpose of genocide currently practiced in Bosnia-Herzegovina by

members of the Yugoslav Army and the Bosnian Serb military. Also,

Allan clearly states that rape is being used increasingly as a

weapon of war in the Balkans, combining murderous misogyny with

rabid nationalism. Further, Allen explains the twisted logic by

which perpetrators consider the act as cancelling the victim's

cultural identity. If the victim is impregnated, so the theory

goes, the offspring is nothing less than "a little Serb soldier"

(1996).

ConclusionAs Susan Brownmiller stated earlier that rape is not about

sex but about power, fear, and subjugation. For thousands of

years, it has been viewed as an acceptable “spoil of war,” used

as a weapon by invading armies to crush the will of the

conquered. Additionally, she argues that rape can’t be accepted

and has to be addressed. Further, she argues that rape has been

accepted and tolerated for a long time. As in Bosnia, the rape


has been ignored, and even encouraged by governments and

military leaders, misunderstood by police and security

organizations, freely employed by domineering husbands and

lovers, downplayed by medical and legal professionals more

inclined to “blame the victim,” and, perhaps most shockingly,

accepted in supposedly civilized societies worldwide, including

the United States.

Mass violence, torture, violation human rights and harassment

of human beings is not a new phenomenon in human history;

documentation of such events extend throughout history. It is

important to develop a deeper understanding of the psychological,

cultural, political, and social roots of human cruelty, mass

violence, and genocide. We need to continue to explore the

factors that allow individuals collectively and individually

committing evil/genocide and the impact listless observer as fuel

human violence. Although an accurate, predictable model of mass

violence/human cruelty beyond possibilities of human

capabilities, it is our obligation to develop a model that

indicates signs Warnings and predetermined factors of human


violence and genocide. With such information we can develop

policies, strategies and programs whose aim is to act contrary to

these crimes.

The author of Silovane: srpski zločini u Bosni i Hercegovini book,

Ehlimana Pašić (1995) was raped in Bosnia during the war. She

decided to write a book on her story and to indentify the

monsters who raped not only her, but many other Bosnian women and

girls, ages varying from 7 to 77 years old. It is a means of

bringing attention to the atrocities performed during the war,

and recognizing the rapes as acts of genocide in Bosnia and

Herzegovina. Her testimony, as the testimony of many others

Bosnian women and girls, who were raped in Bosnia is significant

to since it is a firsthand account of a rape victim who

ultimately survived the war and decided to tell her story and the

stories of those who never recovered from their injuries.

Similarly, Alexandra Stiglmayer, (1994) in her book Mass

Rape: the war against women in Bosnia-Herzegovina, interviewed survivors of

the continuing war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in order to reveal, to a

seemingly deaf world, the horrors of the ongoing war in the

http://katalog.kgz.hr/pagesResults/rezultati.aspx?&searchById=1&xm0=1&spid0=10&spv0=Pa%C5%A1i%C4%87,%20Ehlimana



former Yugoslavia. The women primarily of Muslim but also of

Croatian and Serbian origin have endured the atrocities of rape

and the loss of loved ones. In her book she is detailing the

historical context of the current conflict and the other

presenting the core of the book, interviews with some twenty

victims of rape as well as interviews with three Serbian

perpetrators. Essays investigating mass rape and war from

ethnopsychological, sociological, cultural, and medical

perspectives are included.Also, Tilman Zulch (1996) in his book

Etničko čišćenje" genocid za „Veliku Srbiju" analyzes the ethnic cleansing in

Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also, writes about mass ripe of the

women Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Rape has been a part of war as long as war has been a part

of human existence. Yet though rape has long been acknowledged as

an atrocity, rape did not become a war crime until the late

1990s. This paper looks at why this is so and how the

role of rape in war in Bosnia, and Rwanda effected the

development of international law regarding women. A discussion on

human security will show how a change in thinking on human


security led to an individualistic security focus rather than

security focused on nation states and state sovereignty.

Furthermore, the international laws regarding women in war

prior to the 1990s will be discussed, as well why these laws

were not adequate in their protection of women

internationally. This paper argues that a change in the

fundamental understanding of rape from a consequence of war to a

method of war led to the development of rape as a war crime. This

claim is explored through case studies of the Bosnian

(1992-1995) war in the former Yugoslavia and the Rwandan

genocide (1994). The general aim of this paper is to understand

the impact rape in war had on the development of

international laws regarding women.

Perhaps, the best way to close this paper is with the

statement from Bosnian Historian, Murat Mahmutović (2013) who in

his book ,Krvavi Praznici - genocidi nad Bošnjacima argues if a nation

wants to be morally, ethnically and religiously awakened, its

inhabitants should know their history, as it is, without

distortion of facts, politicization and tendency to manipulate


it. Bosniaks have been gone for a century of struggle of

survival; the right to vote was always taken from them. Today,

after much agonizing time for the Bosniaks, a good portion of the

population is still not familiar with the suffering of their

ancestors, relatives, family, because the other imposes

manipulated history where the oppressors are presented as heroes

and defenders of honor. The history of Bosniaks has always been

written and mostly thought by our oppressors. Always using

different model to oppress and manipulate us, until this last two

decades. And he concludes that now is time for Bosnian people to

write about their history and to tell their story from their

angle.


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